Offering 26 miles of electric driving range, the new 2018 Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid can travel a total of 560 miles before it will need either gas or electricity.

Gray beards would tell you of a time when cars were only ever updated to add more power, not to be more efficient. They’d recall an era when hybrid vehicles seemed a novel and slightly weird development, one that produced spacey-looking cars sometimes equipped with room for no more than two smallish adults (i.e., not them). Plug-ins? That was science fiction, baby, just like a civilian driving a natural gas car or an HOV lane.

Then along came the Chevrolet Volt, a few others, and Blammo! – just about every automaker soon had a hybrid as a powertrain option, and plug-in hybrids gained traction thanks to EPA regulations, requirements for greater efficiency and (maybe) a sense of environmental awareness among consumers.

Perfectly illustrating this shift in approach, the 2018 Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid debuted at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show. As the third plug-in hybrid vehicle offered by Kia, it’s no longer a novelty and is, indeed, practically required if you’re a company that wants to sell cars in America.

Powertrain practicality

With few exceptions, the Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid is exactly like its standard Niro Hybrid counterpart, offering room for up to five people in a practical hatchback body style.

(Kia)

Based on the standard Niro Hybrid, the new Niro Plug-in has a more powerful electric powertrain along with added features and minor design differentiation.

Of course, the Niro Plug-in Hybrid is all about the engine, and what it does. Or rather, what it enables you to do, whether you’re commuting into a city center or bopping about town. For starters, it gets an EPA-rated 26 miles of electric driving range in in EV mode, a rating more or less comparable to other plug-in vehicles. After the battery reaches a minimum state of charge, the Niro Plug-in operates like a traditional hybrid vehicle, supplying a total driving range of 560 miles with all elements of the powertrain working.

Altogether, the Niro Plug-in’s powertrain includes a 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engine making 104 horsepower, a 6-speed automatic transmission, and a 60-hp electric motor energized by an 8.9 kWh battery. The battery and the electric motor are larger than what’s found in the standard Niro, and those components enable the plug-in hybrid model’s all-electric drive. Combined, total output is rated at 139 horsepower and 195 lb.-ft. of torque, with combined fuel economy of 46 mpg.

How long does it take to charge the Niro Plug-in? Kia says a 240-volt Level 2 charger replenishes the battery in approximately 2.5 hours, while a standard 120-volt household outlet requires nearly nine hours.

Aside from the powertrain, the Kia Niro Plug-in is mostly the same as the standard model. Additional changes include a modified grille insert, blue exterior accents, an available 7-inch gauge cluster with a digital tachometer, and Plug-in Hybrid badges.

Ironic efficiency

The EPA says the new 2018 Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid achieves a 105 MPGe rating, or 46 mpg in combined driving when used as a gas-electric hybrid.

(Kia)

It’s maybe a little humorous that the Kia Niro Plug-in gets slightly lower combined fuel economy than the standard Niro. When you include the EV range, however, the plug-in rates 105 MPGe.

An MPGe rating is given by the EPA as a way to provide a point of comparison between cars powered by electric and internal combustion engines. The EPA uses 33.7 kilowatt-hours as the equivalent to one gallon of gasoline, and rates an electric vehicle based on the distance traveled using that amount of energy.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles get both MPG and MPGe ratings as they can operate in either gas/electric or electric-only mode.